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PHA4GE doing its bit in new global wastewater initiative

PHA4GE’s Prof Alan Christoffels was in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, in early December 2024,
taking part in the GLOWACON Regional Conference being hosted by the African Centres for
Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC).

GLOWACON, aka the Global Consortium for Wastewater and Environmental Surveillance
for Public Health, is a global initiative to develop an “international sentinel system” that would
aid the early detection, prevention, and real-time monitoring of epidemic threats and
outbreaks. It is an initiative of the European Commission’s Health Emergency Preparedness
and Response (HERA) and its Joint Research Centre (JRC).

GLOWAGON Conference Attendees from NICD, SANBI, PHA4GE, Africa CDC and University of Cambridge
GLOWAGON Conference Attendees from NICD, SANBI, PHA4GE, Africa CDC and University of Cambridge

Part of the exercise is the integration of wastewater and environmental surveillance “as a
routine practice within public health systems and institutions”, the EU announced at
GLOWACON’s inaugural meeting, staged in Brussels in March this year.

A number of PHA4GE members are contributing to the project. “It is truly exciting to see
PHA4GE efforts paying off on the international stage,” says Christoffels.

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